Posts made by handdrawnviolist

@teju-abiola Thank you SO MUCH for your perspective, it's really helped a lot! I'll definitely be employing the google to see what comes up, you have a good point. Right now when I'm googling myself my art socials are coming in like halfway down the page, it's definitely something to work on.

@carriecopa That's really cool! See, I can't wait to get married, so that I can get rid of mine (another reason for thinking of using my middle, I don't want to have to do this whole name thing again after I marry).

I think I'm definitely going to go through with this though, it's just a question of which direction to go in - Kori Lynne Illo sounds nice, Kori Lynne Draws, Kori Lynne Art, there's a lot that works (thanks, Mom, for a first/middle name that almost sound like one name!)

@smceccarelli Unfortunately the YouTube Channel is super hard to find - YouTube itself doesn't let you have a custom URL until you hit 100 subs, which to me always felt kinda unfair (how are people supposed to find me then?), but that's a rant/soapbox for another day.

Seeming unprofessional is definitely at the forefront of my mind - it's amazing what taking a step back can do! I was so attached to handdrawnviolist for the longest time (I thought it was really clever when I came up with it) but coming back to it after a long break it seems so unwieldy and too difficult to spell/say/whatever. I'm definitely excited for the chance to come back and have a sort of "rebirth" and refresh for everything.

I'm coming back after a long (functionally about a year now, though there's been some bits of popping back in and out in between) haitus due to jobs/mental health/hospital trips/you name it, life threw it at me this year. I had gotten a YouTube channel launched and gotten a really strong start to getting a social media following going right before I left.

I had done all of this under "Handdrawnviolist," which is a handle I had been using since, gee... high school maybe? But coming back to it, the name seems like a bit of a mouthful (It's also one character too long for Twitter) and that maybe I should completely rebrand. Some ideas I've tossed around are "Kori Lynne Art" "Kori's Illustration" "Kori Lynne Ilo" or something similar (using my middle instead of my last name because wow I really, really hate my last name).

I wouldn't really be changing too much content-wise, I feel like my style and projects started a year ago still very much line up with what I'm currently working on/looking to work towards.

I guess the real question is if the name is worth the hassle of changing it - I know y'all can't answer if it's still reflective of my work, that's a me thing, but is it worth confusing anyone who's still around and following me after a year? Is it worth 'dumping' what was a super unique name at the time and something I've built the foundation of my business around? I realize you guys might not be able to answer any of it! But has anyone else done this kind of thing? What were the challenges. what was easier than you thought it was going to be? What was much harder?

Hey guys! Sorry I haven't been super active, I just moved and have been super busy. I can't wait to see what you all have been up to!

Anyway, I was approached today by a client who would like me to do their graphic novel. I'm super flattered and excited for the opportunity, and we agreed upon a pricing structure that works per page and all that nonsense.

However, I wanted to see if you guys knew anything about royalties for graphic novels. I asked for 15% of profits once the book has sold enough copies to pay for the art, printing expenses, and advertising costs and I'm getting a lot of pushback from the client. Are royalties expected once the art is paid for? I'm having a hard time getting around promoting a long term project like that while only getting paid for the art.

So I'm in the middle of building a website to use as a portfolio/serve as a sort of "hub" for my online presence. I'm curious as to what sites everybody has found success with.

I've tried wordpress, but it seems so oriented towards hosting blogs that I'm not sure how anyone twists it into a portfolio site, to be honest. For reference, I'm looking for a nice, clean portfolio page that displays thumbnails when you land on it, but then you can click on the image and scroll through them with minimal text (I love having stories behind my artwork, but that's what my instagram and tumblr are for, tbh) and the option to have multiple galleries (for example, I'd love an aggregate portfolio, but I'd also love separate galleries for other projects, fanart, the tarot deck, sketches, etc).

I'd also love the option for a page with clear links to my social media platforms. I'm aiming to have a youtube up soon, so something that embeds video would be nice but not necessary. I did find an instagram plugin for wordpress that's really cool, but also not necessary - I'd prefer an nice clean gallery first, social media options are, well, optional.

So what does everyone else use? Any tips to make wordpress work? I'm also comparing prices to see which sites offer domain hosting and google analytics, so that's a factor as well.